Fidaa Mohammad Qassem, an 18-year-old English student who lives in Kobani, a Kurdish-majority town under the de-facto control of the Autonomous Administration of north-east Syria (AANES), was forcibly conscripted to the Women’s Protection Units (YPJ), AANES’s female military force, in violation of local law. The authorities deprived her from communicating with her family in violation of international law. On 6 April 2023, Fidaa Mohammed Qassem was returning from English class in Kobani when she went missing. A close relative told Amnesty International that members of the YPJ conducted an unofficial visit to Fidaa Mohammad Qassem’s family about two weeks after she had gone missing and claimed that Fidaa Mohammad Qassem had voluntarily chosen to join the YPJ. The YPJ should reveal the whereabouts of Fidaa Mohammad Qassem and allow her to communicate with her family.
